I believe the shallow DOF(Depth of focus) pictures are called "The Bokeh effect"

Just a small difference Nayak. DoF is the area where your subject is sharp ie., the in-focus area whereas Bokeh is the quality of the blur.

Nayak wrote:

Let me give an example. Sonakshi Sinha and Sonam Kapoor are two of the most loveliest and Pretty faces in the Bollywood today. But show me a picture of theirs where the former has not highlighted her expressive eye with eye liner or the latter her sensuous lips with lipstick? Even having very photogenic faces, they still have the need to highlight their best assets.

I've always been a fan of your yummy examples rasika.

Nayak wrote:

You cannot make a bad picture beautiful by editing it. But you can make a good picture even more beautiful by editing its strong points and presenting it to the best effect. This is where the indispensable secondary process of using editing software comes into play. Hope my point is clear.

Very true Nayak. What we can do? Most of the time we add a bit of contrast and crop to get the composition with a better feel. What we can't do? No amount of PP could cover up an under exposed part or a blown out area which has lost its detail completely. Your histogram will tell you more than anyone else.

Agree totally on the matter, there is a lot of "detail" that can be brought out which is present in the shot. A simple curve correction or contrast boost is needed in most cases since not all lenses have good local contrast.

"...second picture of Neon is not that sharp. How do you manage the sharpness? "

That is the problem I have mentioned and there are lots of misses(~90%) but I like the hits. I have tried the on camera flash but the results are not flattering as far as I am concerned. I think that the natural colors take a hit. Probably I am doing it wrong. I was never a fan of using the flash though.

I like the idea of an external flash firing from top but do not have the equipment yet.

I will soon be migrating to a so called EVIL camera (E-PL1) and will be reunited with my Zuikos. The bigger sensor and faster lenses should allow me more keepers without flash. I will also be trying out the top firing external flash.

"We expect the first picture we take to come good, and we treat the secondary process of editing as something we should be ashamed off. This mindset is wrong!!!!! "

I guess this is the Chrome era mentality creeping into the Digital era for me. It is not about expecting the first pic to come out correct but wanting to take all the pictures correctly (wasting one slide was a costly mistake).

Extending your luscious examples the net is scattered with before after pictures where the original and finished products are hard to relate. Where do we draw the line?

Actually I hardly get time for the post processing effort other than a quick sharpen or a little gamma correction or saturation manipulation. I do this if my mental picture of the scene differs from the one I see on the screen.

The pictures I uploaded were specifically left untouched as I wanted to demonstrate the no flash effect.

"The Bokeh effect"
That will the out of focus background and the bokeh can be ugly or pretty depending on the quality and type of the lens. Eg: Mirror lenses leave doughnut shaped bokehs

Please comment on the areas I need to improve and also suggestions And I am yet to learn photoshop so none of the images are edited

Nikon Coolpix L20 is a cool camera.
But in your pictures the camera got confused since there is not much contrast between the substrate, decors and the shrimps. Hence it did not focus well in auto focus on the shrimps. Secondly if you check, The ISO on all your pics except your second image with the "burned" shot, is very high. Not having a image stabiliser, The camera automatically increased the ISO to compensate for any shake! I will post the solution for this in the coming post.

For now,
Set it on macro mode
White balance-Auto
Color options- You decide
Scene mode- Any action/Sport/Portrait/Face detection(choose any one and experiment)
Click the picture
Open the picture from our PC(After downloading it) in Microsoft office picture manager
Click on auto correct(If not happy revert back)
Go to Edit pictures
Select crop and crop till you get the right composition
Click on resize image(Select 800*600px)
save and show it to us

I believe the shallow DOF(Depth of focus) pictures are called "The Bokeh effect"

Just a small difference Nayak. DoF is the area where your subject is sharp ie., the in-focus area whereas Bokeh is the quality of the blur.

Nayak wrote:

Let me give an example. Sonakshi Sinha and Sonam Kapoor are two of the most loveliest and Pretty faces in the Bollywood today. But show me a picture of theirs where the former has not highlighted her expressive eye with eye liner or the latter her sensuous lips with lipstick? Even having very photogenic faces, they still have the need to highlight their best assets.

Read the above two quotes. That is the typical mindset of us learning hobbyists. We expect the first picture we take to come good, and we treat the secondary process of editing as something we should be ashamed off. This mindset is wrong!!!!!

Agree wholeheartedly!!
That is stage 1. In denial of Post Processing
Stage 2 is where you try to pass off bad pictures under the guise of not knowing good enough PP techniques. (This is the stage i am currently at

Agree totally on the matter, there is a lot of &quot;detail&quot; that can be brought out which is present in the shot. A simple curve correction or contrast boost is needed in most cases since not all lenses have good local contrast.

Thanks for the support regarding editing, Hayath. People simply do not accept the fact that post processing(PP) is a necessity for all photographers.

Thanks a ton Nayak Ji, I also didnt know that my old camera has so many options
I have taken the images at 5mp, so I will increase it to 10mp, click some images, crop it and will share it.
Nayak Ji, one more small clarification, in macro mode a green dot appears which I feel shows the movement of the object or its surroundings.
So while clicking the image in macro mode what should I look after? The stability of the image or the stability of the green dot?

My two bits.
I like to take pictures with ambient light and no flash. This requires wide open aperture and very low shutter speeds. The ISO is either 80 or 100 other wise the noise is just too high. The low shutter speed becomes a problem with fish as the S3 cannot go beyond F2.7. How I miss my Zuiko 50mm f1.8.
Warm regards.
Arnab.

Arnab, I am confused here. Are you clicking in Manual mode? Are you using a tripod?

. I have tried the on camera flash but the results are not flattering as far as I am concerned. I think that the natural colors take a hit. Probably I am doing it wrong. I was never a fan of using the flash though.

I like the idea of an external flash firing from top but do not have the equipment yet.

I will soon be migrating to a so called EVIL camera (E-PL1) and will be reunited with my Zuikos. The bigger sensor and faster lenses should allow me more keepers without flash. I will also be trying out the top firing external flash.
Warm regards.
Arnab.

3) The Aperture priority mode(Some P&S might not have this. Use portrait, Night or face recognition modes in such camera's)
Camera decides the Shutter speed. We can set F number, flash,Macro, EV,ISO, contrast, sharpness, Color, metering mode and white balance.
Lower the F number, higher the Aperture opening.
Higher the aperture opening, lower the DOF. This causes the main subject "fish or aquatic plant" to come sharp and the background to be blurred.
Good for capturing slow moving fishes like Loaches, Cichlids etc.

Secondary points....
EV: As a thumb rule keep it 0.0 or better go to the negative side.
Macro: Choose it when you want to take a close up of your fish.
ISO: Lower the ISO number lesser the noise. The noise appears as grains on the pictures. Lesser the light available better go for higher ISO.

Flash:
Light is one of the most important aspect of any photograph. Its priority for a good picture can never be over stated!
Lighting for the aquarium consists of two aspects. Ambient and flash.
Ambient light can be controlled depending on individual conditions. Flash intensity can be increased or decreased in some P&S. But for others tape a tissue paper or other type of semi-transparent material over the flash to control the intensity. Keep the camera at an angle as close to the front glass of the aquarium as possible to reduce glare.
Using or disabling flash depends on individual taste. But keep your options open depending on the situation at hand!

Nayak.
I will soon be migrating to a so called EVIL camera (E-PL1) and will be reunited with my Zuikos. The bigger sensor and faster lenses should allow me more keepers without flash. I will also be trying out the top firing external flash.
Warm regards.
Arnab.

Extending your luscious examples the net is scattered with before after pictures where the original and finished products are hard to relate. Where do we draw the line?
Actually I hardly get time for the post processing effort other than a quick sharpen or a little gamma correction or saturation manipulation. I do this if my mental picture of the scene differs from the one I see on the screen.
Warm regards.
Arnab.

Arnab,
We, the Photographers have to draw the line ourselves if we do not want to loose credibility. Members of IAH are a discerning lot. They will immediately differentiate between (Aunty)Chachi420 and Sonakshi Sinha

Here is what I do when I want to use low F-stop, Low shutter speed and low ISO at ambient light.

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